hello, i am trying to get some things working together... LCD Keypad Shield LCD 1602, ATmega2560-16AU, and a I2C RTC DS1307 AT24C32 Real Time Clock in the long run i am trying to automate my reef tank lights and fans, but for now i just wanna learn the coding.i wanna know how to set the time, run the 5v relays on timers and be able to dim the lights.i need to know how or where to find how to do it. please help with my headache.feel free to call or email or whatever, just plz help

hello, i am trying to get some things working together... LCD Keypad Shield LCD 1602, ATmega2560-16AU, and a I2C RTC DS1307 AT24C32 Real Time Clock in the long run i am trying to automate my reef tank lights and fans, but for now i just wanna learn the coding.i wanna know how to set the time, run the 5v relays on timers and be able to dim the lights.i need to know how or where to find how to do it. please help with my headache.feel free to call or email or whatever, just plz help

Worst thread title of all time. Explain exactly WHAT you want in your title, not just "HELP". Make sense?

I bought the 1602 LCD recently and I'm trying to figure out what serial adapters I need to get it to work without a bazillion wires. Any suggestions?

Shift registers are an easy and cheap option (and most people have a ton of shift register chips laying around). They would use from 2 to 4 wires depending on what shift register you have and how much complexity you build into the control circuit. If you want to use the lowest number of wires, I2C is a good option. But, I believe that's slower than using shift registers for LCD displays (been about a year but I believe that's the case).